Washington, D.C. - A leaked diplomatic cable from
the U.S. Embassy in Argentina states that current presidential candidate
Mauricio Macri accused U.S. officials of being “too soft” on the government of
Argentina.

Reporting on a meeting between the U.S. Ambassador and Macri in November 2009,
the cable, published by WikiLeaks, and previously analyzed in the book
"Argenleaks: Los cables de Wikileaks sobre la Argentina, de la A a la
Z" by Santiago O'Donnell, states:

Macri reprised an earlier conversation with [the then Assistant
Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Thomas Shannon, the State
Department’s top official for Latin America] regarding the need to set limits
on the Kirchners' misbehavior and the USG's supposed "softness" on
the Kirchners. He argued that the USG's "silence" on the abusive
mistreatment it suffered at the hands of the Kirchners (such as at the 2005 Mar
del Plata Summit of the Americas) had encouraged more of the same.

The leaked
conversations are likely to be noticed in a heated presidential race where
Argentina’s national sovereignty, especially with regard to Washington, has
been raised as an issue. The Argentine economy was restructured in the 1990s
and fell into a deep depression from 1998–2002, under the tutelage of the
Washington-dominated International Monetary Fund. And last year a New York
judge ruled in favor of “vulture funds,” blocking Argentina from paying its
creditors. Many Argentines have become wary of U.S. influence as a result of
these and other interventions from Washington that had negative outcomes.

“This would probably be a bombshell revelation in any country’s presidential
election,” CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said
today. “Asking a powerful foreign country, especially the U.S. – considering
its track record in Argentina – to come down harder on your own government is
not likely to be viewed positively.”

The cable, classified as “confidential,” reports many complaints and harsh
criticisms of the Kirchners by Macri, including that they had “succeeded in
alienating the United States.” The U.S. ambassador appears to disagree with
this claim:

Macri said the Kirchners had succeeded in alienating Washington
to the point where Washington did not care what Argentina (unlike Brazil or
Chile) had to say about anything. The Ambassador sought to disabuse Macri of
that notion, arguing that Washington remained fully committed to deepening and
strengthening relations with Argentina. She pointed out that Washington was
keenly aware of Argentina's position in the world as an agricultural powerhouse
and of Argentine cooperation, actual and potential. As an example, she cited
Argentina's role in developing satellites to be launched by NASA as evidence of
Washington's appreciation for the high-tech value that Argentina could bring to
bear.